DOJ Answered Freedom of Information Request with Blank Pages

Are the Obama people still claiming to be the most transparent administration ever? If so, do they say it with a straight face? If they do, they deserve Oscars. The latest in the transparency chronicles involves a Freedom of Information Act request sent by CBS News to the Department of Justice for information on Operation Fast and Furious. What did they receive in response? A bunch of blank pages.

For more than a year, CBS News has been investigating the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms’ “Fast and Furious” operation and related cases that also employed the controversial tactic of “gunwalking.”

With Justice Department officials refusing all interview requests to date, CBS News requested numerous public documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

So far, all of the requests that have been answered have been denied in part or in full.

This week, we received a partial response to a request made more than a year ago. It asked for communications involving “Project Gunrunner,” the umbrella program for Fast and Furious, from 2010 through April 2011.

Specifically, it sought any communications to which any of the following top Justice officials were a party: